This past spring, the FDA took a hands-off approach to Merck’s admission that DNA from a lethal pig virus is contaminating doses of RotaTeq vaccine being swallowed by millions of newborn babies.1 Now the agency responsible for making sure pharmaceutical products do not hurt people is proposing a Rule Change to give one staff employee the sole authority to allow “exceptions or alternatives” when drug companies want to change vaccine ingredients, such as preservatives (like thimerosal) or adjuvants (like aluminum) or the amount of residual protein and antibiotics in vaccines.

The FDA’s proposed change to Requirements for Constituent Materials was quietly published in The Federal Register on March 30 and the deadline for public comment is only days away - on Monday, June 28. 2

The FDA is arguing that the rule change is necessary to “reduce burdens on industry” and to provide “greater flexibility and reduced regulatory requirements.” It gives one FDA staff Director the power to give drug companies the green light to “employ advances in science and technology as they become available” when companies want to make new vaccines really fast and get more bang for the buck.

If the proposed Rule Change is put into effect, a vaccine manufacturer could request a change in the content or amount of vaccine ingredients by simply writing a “brief statement describing the basis for the request and supporting data” as part of the original license application or for a pending or approved application. There is no information about how much scientific evidence the drug companies will have to submit to prove the new ingredients are safe; or whether the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee will be able to review that evidence; or whether the American public will have a chance to comment before vaccine ingredients are changed.

This does not look like the transparency, public participation and collaboration in government that President Obama said he supports. 3 It removes the checks and balances necessary for good government.

Last year when federal health officials declared a pandemic H1N1 “swine flu” national emergency, drug companies put a full court press on the FDA to fast track licensure of highly reactive oil based squalene adjuvants 4 and the use of new technology, like insect cells, 5 to make pandemic influenza vaccines. During meetings of the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, the National Vaccine Information Center opposed both the quick licensure of squalene adjuvants, 6 which hyperstimulate the immune system and have been associated with autoimmunity, 78910 and the use of insect cells, 11 which could be contaminated with insect viruses. 121314

Neither technology was licensed by the FDA last year 1516 but there are tens of thousands of doses of squalene that the federal government bought and is stored in warehouses waiting to be used. 17 If the proposed Rule Change goes into effect, will drug companies be able to put those doses of squalene in flu vaccines by getting only one FDA employee to say “yes?” This and other risks to health are waiting for the American people if drug companies can get quick approval from one person to raise the amount of mercury,1819 aluminum 20212223 or residual protein in vaccines, 2425 which have been associated with chronic inflammation, brain and immune system damage. 26

This summer the American people are watching the horrifying consequences of inadequate federal regulation of the oil industry play out in the oil soaked Gulf coast. There are legitimate questions being asked about the cozy relationship and financial conflicts of interest between federal agency regulators and big oil companies partnering with the U.S. Government to generate billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury. 27 Calls for an independent federal safety oversight agency to monitor offshore drilling are being made in congressional hearings.

NVIC has been calling for an independent vaccine safety oversight agency free from financial and ideological conflicts of interest 28 since Congress passed a law in 1997 allowing drug companies to pay the FDA to fast track licensure of new vaccines and drugs. 2930 During the last decade, that fast track system has seen scores of risky drugs like Vioxx and reactive vaccines like Gardasil quickly licensed, only to be followed by tragic reports of deaths and injuries. 3132

While federal health officials are spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money to persuade every American from infancy through the last year of life to take a flu shot every year, 33 and hundreds of new vaccines are now in clinical trials, 3435 it is no time for the FDA to make it easier for drug companies to put whatever they want in vaccines. Giving absolute power to one FDA employee, who reports to unelected political appointees, who could be subjected to heavy pressure from Big Pharma lobbyists, is not the way to regulate vaccines for safety.

If you want to make your voice heard and tell the FDA Commissioner, President Obama and your elected congressional representatives in Washington, D.C. what you think about the proposed rule change making it easier for drug companies to put whatever potentially dangerous ingredients they want to in vaccines, take action now. Remember, you only have until this Monday, June 28 to take action.

It’s your health, Your family. Your choice. Help send a strong message to Washington that it is time for government to stop partnering with the pharmaceutical industry and RAISE the safety bar for drug companies enjoying congressionally mandated liability protection while making big profits from selling government mandated vaccines.

As NVIC’s new Executive Director, I will stay in touch with Vaccine E-newsletter subscribers and supporters and keep you informed about NVIC’s work and advocacy initiatives. It’s your health. Your family. Your choice. Words we can identify with and live by as Americans whose roots are based in personal choice and participatory government. These are the precepts of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement started by NVIC’s founders three decades ago.

Take Action to Raise Vaccine Contamination Awareness
To that end, I hope you responded to our vaccine contamination information initiative on rotavirus vaccine that was in our last newsletter. If you haven’t expressed your concerns about contamination of RotaTeq vaccine with DNA from a lethal pig virus – which signals a lowering of vaccine safety standards - please consider taking action by clicking rotavirus. Let your elected officials, federal agencies, your local media and doctors know that you support transparency in government and high vaccine safety standards and want their support as well.
NVIC has your back and advocates for informed choice, vaccine safety and transparency every day, but your voice is critically important and carries weight in your community. Your feedback and active participation allows NVIC to work more effectively to protect everyone’s health care choices and access to accurate and reliable information. As parents, we can ill afford for the safety standards for biologic products (vaccines) to be lowered, or for contaminated vaccines to be used without properly informing the public of the possible risk involved when we are injecting these products into babies and children. As demonstrated by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee’s report last year that identified deficits in the nation’s vaccine safety research agenda, there are many unknowns and a higher priority must be placed on closing vaccine safety research gaps.

NVIC.org Has Foreign Language Translation
We also hope that you have noticed we are continuing to expand and update our website. Because we support individuals around the world with information, our latest improvement is the foreign language translation of our website! If you know of individuals for whom English is not their first language and they are struggling to find vaccination information – look no further. Our website translation supports Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Russian and Spanish – just click on the flag icon appearing on each web page for translation.

Whatever Your Choice – You Are Welcome at NVIC
At its heart, NVIC is a not-for-profit organization where individuals can become strong and informed on the subject of vaccination and health. Whether you choose to vaccinate with every CDC recommended vaccine and use the CDC’s schedule or you choose to selectively vaccinate and use an alternative schedule – or you choose not to vaccinate at all – you are welcome at NVIC. We are an information clearinghouse for information on health and vaccination and we anchor our information with references from many sources, such as the medical literature, FDA, CDC, NIH, and investigative news reports. We also offer our own informed perspectives based on our decades of independent research and consumer advocacy experience to provide original analyses of information to empower individuals to make fully informed vaccination decisions.

Your Suggestions & Support Are ImportantIf you have suggestions about how we can better support you, please send them to contact@nvic.org – your input is always welcome! We also thank you for your continued financial support of our efforts to protect your vaccine choices and right to access accurate, comprehensive information on which to make them.